Methods of assessing the self concept were reviewed. Two measures of the self concept stated by previous experimenters to be related to psychological adjustment as measured by other psychological tests were discussed. These two measures were, uncertainty about what the self is really like, and self acceptance. An experiment was carried out to investigate the relationship of these two aspects of the self concept in children to psychological adjustment, as measured by tneir anxiety, neuroticism ana extraversion scores on the Childrens Personality Questionnaire (C.P.A.T). The subjects were 127 children, between the ages of 7--12 years, and their 6 teachers. An attempt was also made to investigate the reported relationship between the children1s self concept, and the personality of their teachers as measured on the 16 Personality Pactor Questionnaire (I.P.A.T.), and the teachers attitudes to certain teaching situations as assessed on the Sargant Insight test using specially devised armatures. It was found that increase in uncertainty about the self concept in children between the ages of 7 and 12 years,was associated with significantly higher neuroticism scores than decrease in, or no change in uncertainty scores. (The change was assessed over a 10 week period in a normal school term). Both increase and decrease in uncertainty about the self were found to be associated with significantly higher anxiety scores than no change in uncertainty. It was found that high self acceptance and medium self acceptance were associated with significantly lower anxiety and neuroticism scores than low self acceptance. However, looking at the separate age levels tested it was found that: a) the level of anxiety shown by children with high self acceptance scores rose with age. b) the numbers of children with very high self acceptance scores decreased with age. It was found that the anxiety scores of children in the classes of the three more introverted teachers were significantly higher than those of the children in the classes of the more extraverted teachers.

Synapses are necessary for a functional nervous system. To form a synapse, a neuron must first extend an axon, then select its proper synaptic target, and finally, a series of adhesion and adaptor molecules must work together to assemble synaptic machinery adjacent to the postsynaptic target. Faulty synapses lead to many neurological disorders, and despite the medical relevance, the genetic mechanisms that control synaptogenesis are incompletely understood. This dissertation characterizes the novel role of two proteins, Collapsin Response Mediator Protein (CRMP) and Tramtrack 69 (Ttk69), in synapse formation. CRMPs have previously been shown to mediate growth cone collapse during axon outgrowth and are thought to do so by regulating microtubule assembly and polarity. However, the role CRMP plays at the synapse is unknown. We remove CRMP from Drosophila R7 photoreceptor neurons and find that R7s lacking CRMP form ectopic contacts that contain active zones and are apposed to incorrect targets. To our surprise, we found no alterations in microtubule polarity or organization, and instead found evidence that CRMP might regulate the pattern of calcium influx. In live, developing R7 terminals, we found that R7 calcium transients are normally spontaneous and aperiodic. Interestingly, loss of CRMP increases the frequency and amplitude of these calcium transients. Our results suggest a novel mechanism by which CRMP regulates activity-dependent synapse development. And they indicate that the pattern of calcium transients, even when aperiodic, is critical for this process. The transcription factor, Ttk69, broadly functions in Drosophila cells to inhibit expression of pro-neural genes. However, temporal expression of Ttk69 in R7s is necessary and sufficient to halt R7 axon growth at their final synaptic target layer. R7s and R8 photoreceptors use different but conserved molecular pathways to control both layer selection and tiling, therefore, I am investigating whether ttk69 is similarly required to regulate R8 synaptogenesis. I have found that ttk69 is expressed in R8 photoreceptor neurons and loss of ttk69 from R8s prevents their axons from extending to their final synaptic target layer. Unlike in R7s, Ttk does not function through the TGFβ/Activin pathway in R8s, but likely functions by preventing expression of Netrins repulsive receptor, Unc-5 to control synaptic target selection. This dissertation includes co-authored material. / 10000-01-01

The present study is concerned with the relation between children's self-acceptance, and their acceptance by their peers, as well as the developmental processes involved in the establishment of the self-image during middle childhood. 144 children divided into four age groups (age 7.5, 8.5, 9.5 and 10.5) were included in the study. Children's self-image was investigated in terms of three variables: 1) self-acceptance 2) uncertainty or inconsistency of self-evaluation, and 3) a social versus personal orientation in evaluating both self and peers. Social adjustment was studied in terms of four variables: 1) sociometric status, 2) reciprocal choices, 3) insight into peers' choices, and 4) peer interactions during play situations. In the first part of the study, the equivalence of three measures of self acceptance: 1) self-esteem derived from an interview technique, 2) self-acceptance derived from a Q sort technique, and real self-ideal self congruency (derived from Kelly's repertory grid technique) was borne out. Self-acceptance and real self-ideal self congruency were found to be positively associated, though not entirely overlapping. The second part of the study was concerned with some developmental trends, which emerge during middle childhood in the self-image, as well as in peer-interaction. In this respect it was found that: 1) self-acceptance linearly decreases with age. 2) real self-ideal self congruency decreases with age, though a quadratic rather than linear age trend component was found. 3) Children's uncertainty with regard to self-evaluation linearly decreases with age. 4) The amount of peer interaction in play situations linearly increases with age. Social self-orientation (in terms of the ideal self) was found to increase with age. A parallel personal selforientation linearly decreased with age. A differentiation according to a social versus personal orientation in evaluating peers and self was investigated by principal component analysis. In the fourth part of the study a curvilinear relation between self-acceptance and acceptance by peers, tested separately in each of the eight subgroups (divided according to age and sex), was confirmed. Furthermore, the significance of this relation linearly increased with age.

The development of laughter is little understood even though it is an area of human behaviour that long intrigued psychologists and philosophers. A framework for understanding is required. With guidance from existing literature, observational data is used to develop such a framework. It is argued that no one single approach can, in principle, explain the phenomenon. Laughter occurs in too varied situations for it to be possible to claim that it is due to one single cause. Moreover, laboratory studies usually require subjects to laugh at 'funny' stimuli on cue. As a result, they have focussed on responsive laughter rather than on the conditions under which subjects try to make others laugh. Given this background, observational data is useful. In this study observational data from a longitudinal study of two children and from a study of children in a playgroup are used to argue that very young children not only laugh responsively but also create occasions for their own laughter. Moreover, while their ability to laugh develops in many ways linked to their cognitive and social development, they can still laugh at the kinds of situations that made them laugh when they were very young. It is concluded that observations have helpfully added to ways in which the development of laughter has been conceptualised. It is also suggested that some observations of laughter in young children have implications for research on how young children are capable of intentional behaviour.

An experiment was designed to test the effects of certain factors on the discrimination learning and shift performance of young children. Subjects were selected between the ages since it has been observed that at about that age, reversal and non-reversal shifts in discrimination are executed equally readily. Five dichotomous variables were controlled: intelligence, sex, social group, type of shift, and reward condition. Subjects were assigned on their performance of the childrens' Progressive Matrices, to high or normal IQ groups. Males and females were separately grouped. Social group was determined by school attendance: tv/o schools in middle class residential districts, and two in working class areas were visited. Children were allocated at random to shift and reward conditions. After initial training, half the children were rewarded for performing a reversal or intradimensional shift, the other half, a non-reversal or extradimentional shift. Half of the subjects received material incentives: sweets or trinkets for correct responses, and half, nonmaterial rewards: bell tinkles or light flashes. The performance of 128 children was examined by five way analyses of variance. The variables' effects were minimal during initial training, but in the discrimination3shifts, interesting effects emerged. The group as a whole performed both shifts with relative ease, but middle class children performed reversal shifts better than non-reversal ones while working class children performed non-reversal shifts best. Reward effects interacted with intelligence: high IQ subjects performed best for material incentives. Girls generally performed better than boys, although the effects of sex interacted with both IQ and social group membership. A strong relation appeared between verbal facility as measured by the WISC Vocabulary and shift performance. A covariance analysis, by equalizing the impact of fluency, reduced the variability within groups, and accentuated the previously observed effects. A reward choice technique produced evidence of a developing preference for larger, delayed over smaller, immediate rewards in middle class children. The results of this study indicate that the factors selected for study here do affect the discrimination learning of six year olds.

While there is no shortage of literature in the field of psychology of religion, much of this has been approached from a theoretical and often subjective point of view, rather than from an empirical or objective one. This is particularly true in the area of child development, where no long-term studies exist, despite the relevance of these to the religious formation of children. The present study is based on the results of a religious projective test for use with adolescent girls. Typical patterns of conflict and idealism emerge, especially within the family and social context, but the relation of religion is found to be an indirect one, in either their production or their resolution. Differences emerge according to the age and social background of the girls, most problems being found with both the older and the more intelligent younger ones, while an immature function of religion seems to be more found with the less able, pre-school-leaving group. The analysis of the results is related to the wider field of child development studies at all ages, and in particular to the aims and methodology of catechetics. It is argued that much of the failure to convey religious ideas effectively, as well as the tendency to produce religious conflict, has been due to a faulty understanding of the basic psychology of the child, of his needs and learning processes at any given stage. In the course of the study several criteria of "religious content" are explored, including some specific to the present work, but none are felt to be entirely satisfactory from either standpoint, religious or psychological. A hope is expressed that future studies will emerge that will be equally acceptable on each of these lines.

About fifteen years ago, the unreflecting acceptance of such concepts as right and left as simple polarities, virtually prevented most serious researchers from investigating closely how a child comes to differentiate and name both sides of his body and succeeds in doing so on other persons as well as on himself. Work done by Spionek and Benton in particular has highlighted the various stages through which the development of the right-left concept progresses. Initially it is identified on oneself then 011 other people and on objects. The problem now is to isolate the variables which have a determining influence; this involves an evaluation of the extent of their influence and their interaction. A sample of eighty boys and girls, four to twelve years old was selected and seven tests covering the variables thought to be relevant were administered to them, namely: body schema, vocabulary, abstract reasoning, space relations, handedness, and motor coordination; a measure of knowledge of right and left was also employed. The data obtained on those tests together with the age element were submitted to Principal Component Analysis. This statistical analysis shows that maturation is the most Important of all components extracted. A second component was one of directional orientation and a third, of gross visuo-motor coordination. A fourth factor also emerged involving handedness and right-left discrimination on others. This investigation ofhandedness gave rather puzzling results; further examination suggested that the concept was oversimplified, it is an intricate multidimensional characteristic, rather than a unitary one. It is concluded that verbal ability plays a part throughout the whole evolution of the right-left concept while age and body image are relevant only when the child is applying the concept to himself; space orientation is correlated with this application on other persons.

When infants were allowed to fixate their own mother's face under various degrees of completeness, all showed differential fixation. A face without both eyes was fixated significantly less frequently than were the eyes only with or without other facial features and was also associated with a negative reaction of actively refusing to look. A full or complete face, however, was not fixated any more frequently than an incomplete which contained eyes. In another study, infants were allowed to fixate two television monitors on which were simultaneously presented filmed versions of a strange female face under various degrees of completeness. In spite of decided positional preferences, the results of the two studies correlated significantly, which indicates that infants responded to a filmed version of a face as face-like. It was therefore suggested that the human face as a visual stimulus can be conceived to be built up in the manner of a heterogeneous summation effect organized around a privileged feature, namely, one eye. The literature on imprinting was reviewed and the distinction between the minimally sufficient and the optimal conditions was drawn. Moreover, different types of imprinting were argued for. Then the development of attachment in the human infant, with particular reference to perception of the human face, was compared with imprinted recognition of and response to visual stimuli in birds, and it was pointed out that by 4 to 6 months, most infants evidence behaviour which indicates an internalized face schema.

<p> Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), once thought to be rare, is now considered prevalent, with 1 of every 68 children diagnosed nationwide (Salley, 2016). There is no treatment for ASD, but early therapeutic interventions can help children with ASD live a higher quality of life and achieve major developmental milestones such as language development (Dreyer, 2016). Because ASD can challenge all members of a family, early identification and intervention is vital. This process improvement project was created to enable higher rates of detection for ASD and other developmental delays. The major process improvement intervention was implementing universal screening for ASD during all well-child exams between 18 and 24 months. A guideline was created to help providers know when to screen, what screening tool to use, and how to respond if the screening is abnormal. An educational seminar for all staff involved in the care of pediatric patients also occurred. A chart audit of the guideline and algorithm&rsquo;s clinical use was done to evaluate the successes of the project. To further evaluate outcomes, a staff and provider basic ASD knowledge survey was conducted before and after the education was provided. Finally, steps were taken to work with IT from the electronic health record (EHR) to integrate documentation prompts for providers to ease the use of ASD screening and appropriate billing. With the conclusion of this project, all data acquired indicated the clinical guideline, algorithm, and educational platform were a success. Screening for ASD increased after the implementation. Furthermore, provider and staff knowledge regarding ASD and ASD screening was enhanced. Further work with this type of process improvement project should be conducted, as indicated with the findings of this study. </p><p>

The central nervous system of the cockroach is able to recover following nerve lesions, by specific re-innervation of targets. Some aspects of such regeneration were studied in vitro and in vivo to discover how this is achieved. Neural explants from the cockroach central nervous system were maintained in culture for UP to six months. The effect of various parameters, such as temperature and growth medium composition upon the rate and extent of fibre outgrowth was studied. There was no apparent selectivity in the formation of connections between co-cultured neural or muscular explants, suggesting that the cues necessary for specific re-innervation in vivo may be absent in vitro. Under normal conditions, outgrowth usually began by about five days in culture. The delay before onset of fibre outgrowth, however, was reduced by prior section of nerves in situ two to three weeks before explantation of ganglia into culture. Outgrowth from these nerves which had received a 'conditioning lesion' was observed as soon as 12-24 hours after explantation into culture. Similarly, functional recovery occurred sooner in vivo after equivalent operations: normal function returned to animals more quickly after a second lesion to the same nerve, than after one lesion only. The morphology of an identifiesd motoneurone was studied by intracellular cobalt injection, to assess the effect of maintenance in culture, or of different nerve lesions performed in vivo. Nerve lesions caused changes in the branching pattern of this identified neurone. The extent of change appeared to be determined largely by the overall extent of damage to the nervous system. Direct damage to the cell was not a pre-requisite for changes to occur. In many cases, supernumerary branches entered territory which was normally foreign to the motoneurone. In some areas this growth appeared to be random, while in others sprouts gave the appearance of following paths of degenerating nerve fibres. It is concluded that at least some adult insect neurones are capable of extensive regenerative growth, and of undergoing a high degree of structural modification, both in vivo and in vitro, indicating that some plasticity is a feature of the adult insect nervous system.